"If you like murder mysteries with a bit of meat and history on them, you will love Reunion at the Wetside. Alec Clayton lovingly and skillfully unveils the layered secrets behind of a series of murders, which turn out, not surprisingly, to have their roots in what happened among a group of children (and the young adults they became) decades ago. Once again, the past not only isn't gone, it isn't even the past. And this past is a killer!" - Jack Butler, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock.

It’s early November 2008. The presidential election campaign is going hot and heavy. Alex Martin, an Obama supporter, and Jim Bright, wearing a Ron Paul button, meet in Barney’s Pub in Misting, Washington. They were best friends when they were teenagers but haven’t seen each other in 50 years. Jim was “Mister Everything” in high school. Alex was a gangly tomboy with (like every other girl in town) a huge crush on Jim.

Known as a gay bar, Barney’s is also where the town’s more interesting Bohemians hang out – not exactly the kind of place where you’d expect to find a conservative marketing guy like Jim Bright. Years before on the night of Mayday 1970,  inspired by the notorious Stonewall riots of the previous year, the drag queens that performed at Barney’s started a riot in which a police officer was killed. Now, every year, Barney’s celebrates the anniversary of the riot.

Jim and Alex reminisce about the old neighborhood and all the crazy kids who lived there, and they argue politics, and they discuss a recent story about the murder of a transsexual woman.

Over the next two years other transsexuals are murdered, and then one and then another of the well known drag queens from the old days is killed. A pattern is emerging. The cops have no clue, but Jim thinks he knows who the killer is. He cooks up a risky scheme to expose the killer.

Reunion at the Wetside is a love story between two unlikely lovers, and it is a different kind of murder mystery. Like Clayton’s previous novel, The Backside of Nowhere, this novel is funny, acutely observed, and full of larger-than-life characters.

Special note: There are so many characters in this book that a cast of characters was required, and the cast of characters alone is a wildly entertaining read. See the cast of characters here.

You can buy this book at ...
	Kindle edition available here
Orca Books Olympia, WA	autographed copies or other ordering options by check or PayPal from ClaytonWorks here